


not every aftermath is a blast radius

by finx



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Gen, Post-Captain America: Civil War (Movie), non-graphic violence off-screen, rated T for said off-screen violence and one single swear
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-01
Updated: 2016-07-01
Packaged: 2021-03-13 14:33:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 1,573
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29777595
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/finx/pseuds/finx
Summary: SHIELD is gone, and so is Hydra, and so are the Avengers. Maria Hill isn't head of anything anymore, but she still has a few people she can trust.When she answered Hill's call, Sharon didn't think she'd end up paired with the Black Widow, of all people. But, well – it's not the strangest road trip she's been on.
Relationships: Sharon Carter & Natasha Romanov
Kudos: 3





	1. Chapter 1

“There aren’t really Hydra bases scattered all around Europe,” Maria said. Sharon leaned forward to hear better, resting her elbows on her knees. Maria’s voice was flat and staticky on the cheap phone, the sound easily lost to the muted rumble of traffic outside the motel room window. “Well, there are, but the Avengers cleaned out most of them in the year leading up to Sokovia.” Natasha smiled to herself as she tossed a knife idly in the air, catching it by the blade as often as by the hilt. Sharon wondered if she knew how it was going to land when she tossed it, or if she was just really quick at figuring out where to put her fingers.

“We’ve been working with the governments who are still willing to talk to us, trying to get at the rest. That’s not what I need you for.

“Most of what’s left of Hydra has insinuated itself into major corporations around the globe, primarily in Europe and the US. The ones I’m most worried about are the drug companies. Hydra and medical testing are not words I like to hear in the same sentence. Your first target is a GlobalMed research facility ten miles north of Vienna. I need you to find out if Hydra’s using it to develop a bioweapon, and if they are, destroy the facility and any record of the research.”

Natasha sighed in mock despair. “Sneak into a high-security drug lab, find out if it’s evil, then blow it all to kingdom come, just the two of us? Why do you always give me the easy jobs, Maria? I thought I was your favorite.” 

Sharon startled – she hadn’t expected the Black Widow to crack jokes during a mission briefing. Natasha quirked an eyebrow at her, smirking, like she knew exactly what Sharon was thinking. Sharon gave a little self-deprecating shrug and smiled back, a wordless apology. Natasha’s eyebrows climbed higher and she almost missed the knife as it fell past her hand.

Maria snorted. “Keep telling yourself that, babe. But if you run into trouble, you pull out, you hear me? There are lots more of these places and I have no one else to send. Don’t get captured, don’t get shot. That’s an order.”

“Of course.” Natasha waved off her concern, sending the knife up into a wobbling triple spin and catching it by the blade. “Do we bring you a copy of their files?”

Maria paused a moment before answering. Sharon imagined her grimacing at her bluetooth. “Normally I’d say yes, if you get the chance, but the way things stand, I don’t have anywhere to put it that I’m sure could be safe. If you find yourself in possession of the research somehow, destroy it.”

“Anything else we should keep an eye out for?” Sharon asked.

“If you can find out who their contacts are, where they’re getting their money, anything like that, it would help, but the truth is we barely have the resources to chase any leads you might turn up. The priority is to destroy any chance they have of using this weapon.”

“This weapon that might not even be there,” Natasha said cheerfully, balancing the knife tip on one finger. “In a facility that might not even be Hydra.”

“While our faces are plastered all over every news station,” Sharon added, a grin tugging at her lips. She’d never been on an op this impossible. She shot a glance at Natasha, who probably had, and found her smiling, slow and feral.

“Be careful,” Maria warned. “I don’t want to lose either of you.” She let her concern bleed through into her voice, and in return Sharon made sure to mean it when she promised, “We will.”

Maria hung up. Sharon sat back, the thrill of the chase thrumming through her. She caught Natasha’s eyes and found her excitement mirrored there. “So,” the Black Widow said, flicking the knife up in a lazy loop. “What do you say I go get us a car and we talk strategy on the way?”


	2. Chapter 2

“So is Captain America a good kisser?” Natasha asks their second day on the road. Sharon glances over at her; Natasha’s got on her sly crooked smile, the one Sharon is almost sure is real, and is watching with a languid ease that Sharon immediately distrusts. No one is ever that bonelessly relaxed after four hours in a stolen car that bounces up and down every time it goes over a pebble.

Sharon keeps her eyes on the road and pretends to consider it, as if she hasn’t spent plenty of time thinking about that kiss. “He was alright,” she says, just dismissive enough to be a joke, and Natasha dutifully chuckles. She doesn’t say anything more, lets the silence fill the car, and Sharon finds herself continuing in spite of herself. “It was kind of… not distracted, exactly, but… a little rushed. A little desperate, but like he wasn’t really there.” 

She shrugs. “There was a lot going on. I’m pretty sure he only kissed me because he thought he’d never get the chance again.”

“And why did you kiss him?” Natasha asks, her voice still flippant and doing that low curling thing it does when she’s trying to pull you into a smile. Sharon wonders, nervously, why exactly Natasha is asking, and what kind of answer would be the wrong kind. 

But it’s no good lying to the Black Widow, everyone knows that; and it’s no good lying to your partner, and that’s what Natasha has sort of become. So Sharon tries to find a truth she’s comfortable telling, because while she’s asked herself that same question a dozen times, most of the answers she’s come up with she doesn’t want to bring into the harsh light of day. Not yet, at least.

“Because I’m not sure I’ll ever get the chance again either,” she finally says. “Even if we—” She drums her fingers on the steering wheel, trying to find the words to explain. “He doesn’t really trust me, because I was undercover for SHIELD when I met him and he takes that sort of thing personally. And I don’t really know him, but it feels like I do because of all the stories Aunt Peggy used to tell. That man – the one Aunt Peggy talked about – him, I could fall for. Steve Rogers? I honestly don’t know. That’s not… I don’t know if that would ever work.”

Sharon risks another glance at Natasha. Natasha’s head is cocked a little to the side, her eyes appraising. Sharon bites down on the urge to keep talking. After a moment Natasha goes back to watching raindrops trickle down the window, and Sharon breathes a sigh of relief. 


	3. Chapter 3

The GlobalMed facility did turn out to be an undercover Hydra operation, and as near Sharon could tell their bioweapon was some sort of performance-enhancing drug. “Always with the super-soldier steroids,” she muttered to herself as she placed the charges that would bring the whole complex crashing to the ground. “You’d think for once they’d come up with something new, but _no,_ god forbid anyone ever have an original fucking idea.”

Sharon jogged down the empty hall to the next lab, not bothering to dodge the cameras. The security system was currently a mess of fried wires, and anyway Natasha was off somewhere wiping all the servers. Sharon found a pipe that looked like it might be a gas main and carefully wedged a bomb between it and the wall. “Stupid serum probably takes pixie dust and powdered unicorn hairs anyway,” she grumbled to the bomb as she made sure it was turned on. “They should just take regular steroids and invest in better security.”

She gave the bomb one last pat for good luck and made her way down the hall to the next room. She was down to only three bombs when Natasha’s voice spoke in her ear, slightly out of breath. “All done here. Meet you outside in five.”

Sharon put on an extra burst of speed and put the last few charges in place.

“You’re late,” Natasha said when Sharon met her on the far side of the employee parking lot. There was a dark splash of blood on her pants. Sharon grinned, almost teased her for being clumsy enough to stain her clothes, but the words got caught in her throat.

They were nearly friends, after three weeks of stakeout and undercover work and going over intel and strategy over late-night pizzas – nearly. All Sharon said was, “Run into trouble?”

“Couple of guards. Definitely Hydra – I let them see my face and they started spouting some philosophical crap about order and chaos.” She snuck a sidelong look at Sharon. “I shot them both in the head.”

She was clearly waiting for a reaction, but Sharon had no idea what it was. “Hm,” Sharon commented, and pulled out the detonator.

The bombs went off all at once with a thunderous boom. The walls shivered, frozen for one single slice of time; then the buildings fell in on themselves, a shuddering collapse like an implosion. Sharon watched critically, trying to tell if the underground levels had been thoroughly destroyed. “Think we got everything?” Natasha asked.

“Probably. The dust clouds look right, anyway.”

Natasha hummed in satisfaction. “I love the smell of TNT in the morning,” she said.

Sharon snorted. “Smells like victory.”


End file.
